Love Potion
by Xtase
Summary: "Love at first sight after drinking this potion," Sakura's last-ditch effort to make Sasuke fall in love with her backfires in a disastrous way. Can the village of Konoha, and more importantly Naruto, withstand the almighty force of a besotted Uchiha?
1. Chapter 1

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

Warnings are in place for slash (male on male coupling) and utter silliness.

-Xtase

_This fic was inspired and is based on a d__ōjin of the same name I downloaded from YouTube a while back. I've always loved genin Naruto and Sasuke in Part I, when the series was more carefree and truly awesome. I've always wanted to write one myself: but I don't know if I shall make this a multichapter fic or a oneshot. You guys decide. Enjoy!_

Love at first sight.

The words were like a spell, a charm she chanted inside her head, in her heart. While she jogged towards the bridge where she would find _him_.

Her little white teeth began to chew at her cherry berry lips, the tip of her tongue peeping out to swipe them. Attempting to qell the buzzing throb. When she thought of Sasuke, sometimes, the tingling in her lips would drive her crazy. They cried out for the feel of his kisses, sweet kisses that must feel like summer-heaven.

Her green gaze grew cocktail-cloudy, and she continued pump her legs, thoughts about her first love, powered the pump of her heart. Her rosy tresses winked in the sun, streamed out behind her, like silky ribbons. And nervously, she fingered the little glass bottle in her hands.

It had to work. It just _had _to. She would do anything for him. Anything to have him look at her, the way she knew she saw him. Have him finally come close, so she could smell him, _feel _his body heat. Then his hands, would gently cup her face, tipping her up to meet his gaze. His eyes would be molten, with soft edges; shining, _inviting_. And then their kiss would happen, smooth and dizzying, like the wink of a cherub's eye...

Sakura's cheeks flushed a dazzling pink as her young body shivered all over. Such sweet, terrible daydreams, they made her grasp the precious bottle tight to her breast. The nectar liquid seeming to sing against her pitter-pattering heartbeat. And she looked forward to the moment when fate, and her darling, would finally take her by the hand

A prepubescent girl hopelessly in the throes of calf love, who had let her childish infatuation get the best of her. And get all of them into trouble.

.

"Jeez, where the hell is Kakashi-sensei?" a certain orange disaster complained loudly to the trees. "He's always making us wait!"

Sakura was fiddling with the bottle in her clammy hands, staring straight at Sasuke. As always so calm and cool, leaning up against the red bridge. Her heart fluttered in her chest; it was now or never.

Steeling herself; she uncorked the bottle and whipped around, smiling prettily.

"Sasuke-kun, I brought something for you."

She was in front of him before he could even fully turn his head. Shoving her way past Naruto, she also elbowed him in the face much harder than she had to. "Ow!" and the blond fell to the ground. She hadn't wanted to hurt him, but she couldn't risk Sasuke laying eyes on _him_ first. Eagerly, she pressed the mouth of the bottle against the raven's lips and moved closer. Sasuke was more than a bit startled at her weird behaviour.

"What are you - " and he felt liquid pour into his open mouth.

"It's a special drink that boosts your energy," she tipped it up to increase the flow "drink it all up." her fingers trembled uncontrollably as adrenalin rushed through her veins.

And poor Naruto lay sprawled on the ground, face stinging and eyes watering. "Sakura-chan is so mean..." he muttered to himself.

"O-oi Sakura, what kind of drink are you giving me?" the Uchiha cried in apprehension. It was too much for the surprised boy to swallow all at once; and he began to cough.

_Good! Now all he has to do is look at me..._

Sakura's heart was whacking madly against her ribcage now. And she waited, for her beloved to open his eyes and see her. Actually _see_ her. Her nerves twisted in anticipation. He had drunk most of it. It was going to work...

"What did you do that for, Sakura-chan? It really hurts, y'know," came a somewhat irritated voice from behind.

And then she felt a hand _shove _her. She stumbled, shifted to a side.

And when she regained her footing, she realized she was no longer facing Sasuke. The rosette turned her head to her left, at the Uchiha. At the _open-eyed_ Uchiha, looking entranced..._dreamy_. And directly in his line of sight was a puzzled-looking blond, rubbing his sore face, eyes wide and innocent.

_No. No way. Not another boy...that can't be._

She hoped, she _prayed_ that she was right. Sasuke couldn't fall in love with someone the same sex as him. That would be far too weird. Maybe the potion wouldn't work. But her hopes were dashed when the Uchiha brushed past her, barely aware of her, and stepped up to their teammate...

And Naruto was utterly bewildered when he felt Sasuke slip his arms around him: The brunet had drawn him into a warm embrace. But most shocking were the words the bastard whispered, _breathed_ ardently against his ear.

"I love you,"

That was when the blond's jaw grew slack and his mouth fell open. What. The_. Hell_? Since when did this genin ice-cube...become all touchy-feely? Why would he _confess_ to _him _of all people, out of the blue? Was this some sort of sick game? But as he sought the Uchiha's eyes, what he saw made his stomach plummet. That normally sharp, calculative gaze, had softened; his eyes were glowing, with _feelings_ swirling in their depths. There was no mistaking it; those words were almost certainly true. Hell if he knew why.

Alarmed, Naruto tried to extricate himself from the hug, but it was a tough struggle. Sasuke had him in a relentless iron grip. How could such a skinny boy be so strong? He felt like he had been wrapped up with thick cords of copper wire. He bucked and flailed, but it was no use, Sasuke just bear-hugged him tighter. And then he was _touching_ him.

First fingertips, then Sasuke's thin digits; they were trailing over the weeping red bruise on his cheek. Naruto flinched at their touch. But the lovestruck Uchiha wasn't done yet. He leaned in and kissed the bruised flesh, and his hand began to stroke the other cheek.

Naruto, he thought, smelled so very...intoxicatingly good. Like forest and spices - and sea salt. He swept his tongue across the skin, for a taste of his flawless blond. And even when he felt his love grow stiff in his arms, Sasuke didn't care. It would be easier, to explore him if he was still.

Naruto felt cool air on his bare arms as the bastard stripped him of his jacket. But he was still, paralysed; he couldn't believe this was happening. Sasuke, doing these things...to _him_. A harsh red rush of blood began to flood his face as he felt Sasuke's hands rub the bare skin of his forearms. And he choked when he felt one hand creep up under his shirt.

"Oi - no! Don't touch me there!" the blond cried hysterically, renewing his efforts to throw the Uchiha off him.

But Sasuke seemed to have selective hearing, because he just moved even closer. Closing the distance between their lips...

"Gyaaah! Nooooo!" and Naruto twisted his neck from side to side, trying to avoid yet _another _humiliating kiss with his teammate. He grabbed Sasuke by the hair with both hands and desperately tried to pull his face _away_, much to the raven's discomfort. And annoyance.

"Oi, let go, " he said impatiently. He could feel the hairs being uprooted from his scalp.

"No, _you_ let go!" the blond hollered in reply. Sakura-chan...what was Sakura-chan _doing_? He would be happy if she hit him now; punched him into next week, maybe Sasuke will have recovered his sanity by then. What was she thinking right now, seeing this?

But even if she had wanted to, Sakura felt too weak to beat the blond's face in. She had sunk to her knees on the floor, her eyes glazed in disbelief. How...how could it have turned out like _this_? Sasuke-kun...where had he learned to do all those things? She didn't know if she should be jealous or glad that he wasn't practically mauling _her_. How could this happen? How?

"Hm? What's going on with Sasuke? Looks like he's performing Icha Icha actions with Naruto," Sakura cut her green eyes up, and saw their ever-tardy sensei towering above her. Of course clutching his infamous orange book.

Icha Icha actions, huh?

"I always knew that was a smut book..." she murmured weakly, before fainting clean away. The sound of her slumping to the ground made Naruto look around. He let go of the raven's hair and started waving his arms, shouting at the sight of his sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei! Is that you? Help! He - " but the rest was muffled nonsense against Sasuke's lips. The opportunistic boy had taken advantage of Naruto's distraction to claim his lips in a fierce kiss. The blond screeched and flailed wildly in the Uchiha's arms, mortified as he felt his mouth being assaulted, tainted by a stolen kiss from his bastard rival. _Again_.

It was too much. Naruto swung his fist with all his power and slammed it into Sasuke's face; finally knocking him away. The Uchiha staggered backward, holding his jaw, his lower lip busted and bleeding. He threw the blond a shocked, reproachful look, but his glare immediately softened at the sight of his blond; panting and disheveled with a mad blush on his whiskered cheeks. And a hungry gleam came to his eyes, before he stalked toward Naruto again.

Meanwhile Kakashi looked on, bemused at the strange spectacle. And as Naruto threw a hissy fit while Sasuke tried to cuddle him, the man wondered seriously if his life in the ANBU had really been more stressful than being a regular Jōnin.

.

...to be continued?!


	2. Chapter 2

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

Warnings are in place for slash (male on male coupling) and utter silliness.

-Xtase

_Wow, I have never received such an outpouring of positive responses for any of my stories. I'm so surprised that people thought it was funny, I didn't really put much humour in there. This chapter is a bit more serious, but I'll really go hard with the humour in the next chapter; please forgive me, my brand of humour is more cheeky than witty, as you may have seen from my other parodies. _

_Also, I'm deeply sorry for all those spelling mistakes at the end of chapter one; I had the most horrendous headache when writing it; I just wanted to get it done and posted up so I could go to __**bed**__. It's been edited now, and I polished it up a bit so it reads better. _

_My apologies to __**lWistfulThoughtsl**__, I know you wanted it to be a oneshot, but everyone else wanted me to continue this. I'm not including the whole seme/uke thing in this fic, because I just find it far too restricting. I'm going to let my imagination run wild, have fun, and __**not **__waste my time worrying about who's the dominant one. So you're going to see some SasuNaru and also some NaruSasu in here. _

_This starts off cute, evolves into chaos, gets kinda sexy (I can't quite decide if I shall make these two "do the dirty" in this fic), then becomes torrid roller coaster of events._

_Enjoy chapter two!_

.

Sasuke felt like he was lost in a shivering dream of burnished sunbeams. It...overwhelmed him, swished his thoughts away in a foamy wave of molten gold. It was violent, silent.

He could feel Naruto rippling and churning in his arms. And it felt like peppery-friction everytime he moved, because they were mismatched, because it was _against the grain_. Naruto's rancor, his boisterous shouting; burned his ears with a fuzzy heat. Until he felt like he was glowing, inside, a melting metal sunball flickering in his belly.

All this he felt as he kissed him furious and deep, digging into his innocent presence and plundering the blond's core. What he had heard so many adults talk about...so this is what it felt like. The fireworks, the tingling, feeling the earth move; turning your legs to twisted rubber and melting your knees to creamy fire. But this was stronger; this was _powerful_. It felt like a billion watts of everything. His world was not spinning, nor rocking; but _ending_. He had to stop before he died of fulfillment. He tore away.

And then he opened his smoky eyes, lips and eyelashes atingle, gazing at the object of his desire. He had kissed Naruto thoroughly, until his lips resembled ripe fruit-flesh, glistening red and juicy. So tempting to the eyes, calling to be sucked and teased and nibbled. The raven's own mouth was glory-slick with wetness, _their_ wetness. _His _taste. He grasped the quaking blond's shoulders again; he closed in and felt their mists mingle. Just one more taste. This time, he would do it tenderly, so very softly. This time he would use his tongue...

"That's enough mauling for now, Sasuke," and Sasuke felt himself ripped away from his teammate by the scruff of his neck. He choked and felt his fingertips crawl with a burning itch. Already missing that simple touch.

Meanwhile, Naruto had staggered backwards, his eyes brazen and sharp in feral displeasure. He dragged the back of his palm against his mouth, wishing his skin were sandpaper, eyeing this _infuriating _asshole with a kind of shallow loathing.

He felt...so deeply _violated_. Like Sasuke had spread his chest open and devoured a big chunk of his feeling heart. He was angry and annoyed and _stung_. Because he had made Naruto break down and grow limp. Had forced Naruto to _submit_; to let him _have his way _just so he would fuck off. The blond felt his body prickle with shame. How dare this bastard do such things to him? And out of nowhere like that. It made no sense.

"What the hell, Kakashi," Sasuke snarled as he tried struggling out of his sensei's grip.

"Calm down," Kakashi chided him.

"Like _hell_ I will, let me go!" he redoubled his efforts to get free, not taking his steely black eyes off Naruto.

His insane blush closely resembled sunburn, with his now-stretched tee shirt hanging off his shoulders. He drank in the malty skin and taut flesh; a tad undersized and scrawny for his age, but definitely not a pushover. Sasuke had managed to overpower him, but just barely; having to use his height and all his weight as leverage. And the raven's muscles burned with acid as a result. Then his mouth went dry, his eyes unfocused, as he wondered if Naruto had some muscle tone, hidden away, out of sight...

And Sasuke's carnal daydreams were broken by his vision suddenly skating sharply to the left. He blinked, and in a moment a bright flower of pain blossomed in his right cheek.

Naruto had just belted him across the face; so hard his neck cricked loud as he turned head to face him.

That titanium-hard blaze in his blue eyes lit Sasuke's insides aflame. Such a terrible, beautiful cold fury in those eyes. They drove daggers of pain into his heart and made his blood sing in jubilation at the same time. And Sasuke couldn't decide whether he was in heaven or hell.

Swallowing dryly, deep in his constricted throat, his voice rumbled out thinly, "Baby..."

And Naruto's eyes grew mad with hostility.

"Don't call me that, you flaming gay-ass!" the blond all but roared, "If you do that again I'll fucking kill you!"

Sasuke's gut tightened and his heart wrung itself in his chest.

"Naruto," the raven reached for his hand, wanting - _needing _to touch. To make him understand. Needing to make contact.

But his hand was viciously swatted away, and Naruto turned away from him. Back stiff and hard, he bent to snatch up his jacket, then swooped off into the trees without a word. Or a backward glance.

"Oi, don't leave," the brunet called out in alarm, moving to follow behind. Until he felt himself tugged backward _sharp_.

"And were do you think _you're _going?" Kakashi drawled from behind. Sasuke had completely forgotten he was there.

"Where does it bloody look like I'm going?" Sasuke spat, twisting around to face the jōnin.

"Mah, it doesn't matter where you're going; that's neither here nor there. It's the mess you're leaving behind that concerns me," he gestured behind them.

Sakura lay in a small heap on the hard ground, clearly in a dead faint, with the bottle she had been carrying laying chipped, a few feet from her head. Sasuke felt a guilty twinge in his chest at her forlorn expression. She was his comrade after all; he couldn't just leave her there. She looked incredibly vulnerable, as if...abandoned.

Kakashi carefully scrutinised the odd concern on his young student's face before releasing his grip. He sauntered over to the prone form of the rosette and examined her. Checking her pulse and the pattern of her breathing. With some relief he noted that she was indeed alright, just out cold, and bundled her up in his arms. He then turned his attention to the abandoned bottle with interest. The silver-haired man had no idea of what was going on, but he had an inkling that this had something to do with it. He picked it up and raised it to the light. A trace of liquid still remained.

Sasuke was sorely torn. He couldn't just abandon his responsibilities and leave; but he couldn't stay here either. The longer he delayed, the further away Naruto would get. He needed to find him, and explain...make him understand his feelings. Wherever they had suddenly sprung up from. It was like his whole life was a scentless grey-tone blur before this morning. Drab in comparison to his butterfly-blot of a teammate. A past not worth remembering. Kakashi was distracted, perhaps he could manage to slip away. He had to...

And as his feet moved of their own volition, Sasuke suddenly felt his arms snap to his sides and his legs fuse together. He flopped over into the ground, bewildered.

"Oh no you don't," Kakashi said, fingering some wire strands; he had trussed Sasuke up like a turkey.

"What the hell! Let me go, you lunatic scarecrow!" Sasuke shrieked.

"Not a chance," he scooped up their delicate cherry blossom and gently tucked her under his arm. Then got a firm grip on the wires binding Sasuke and roughly tugged him along the ground, "We're paying a visit to the hospital."

"You asshole, I'm not sick! If you _dare _drag me there I'll kill you, _I'll pluck your eyes out_!" He wanted to peel the jōnin's mask off and punch his teeth in.

"My, my, _Sasuke _of all people losing his cool...there _must _be something wrong with you," the jōnin sing-songed. Sasuke began to gnash his teeth in his intense ire, thrashing about wildly, causing the wires to cut more deeply into his flesh.

"You can't do this to me, you rotten bastard! You gaping cunt!" he roared.

"Oh, but I can,"

And Kakashi did. He tramped away from the bridge to the streets of Konoha; towards the hospital. And the villagers he chanced to meet on the way were treated to the rare sight of him carefully clutching an unconcious girl and unceremoniously dragging a certain Uchiha kicking and screaming through the dirt. The endless stream of profanities spewing from the livid boy's mouth...not even Kakashi knew what they all meant. Taking care of this troublesome trio would surely turn all his silver hairs white.

.

Naruto flung his hitai-ate to the far corner of his room with an explosive flicking movement that almost snapped his own wrist. And it _clanged_ out so _sharp_ in the lonely silence. Then he sat down heavily on his bed, breathing deep and long, trying to get some clean air into his lungs. Trying to flush out the blistering blast-taste of his bastard teammate's blood-laced kiss.

He rubbed his sore face, his strained body. He needed to shower, he needed to binge on nine packets of instant ramen, he needed to _get rid _of this itchy ball of needles lodged in his throat. He didn't want to think - what good would it do? When he was...so confused.

.

_Jesus, that's a powerful potion. How ever did Sakura-darling come by it? Next time; Sasuke unleashed!_

_Peace!_


	3. Chapter 3

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

Warnings are in place for slash (male on male coupling) and utter silliness.

-Xtase

_Alright, my lovelies; on with the show. I said it before and I'll say it again; I have a very cheeky sense of humour. I tried to tone it down a bit so people won't faint while reading this. I hope it reads okay._

_Now, chapter three ho!_

An adult shinobi with a shock of brilliant silver hair carrying an unconcious girl in the crook of his arm. Dragging a muck-coated, tightly bound lump behind that was just barely recognizable as a living being. And only because the filthy lump seemed to possess a voice, and it was snarling, forming an endless barrage of the most vicious curses.

Imagine the hospital staff's surprise as they witnessed this odd spectacle barging through their doors with much fuss and furor. The squalling creature was trailing a thin track of grime in its wake.

The receptionist raised her manicured eyebrows at them, tapping her pen on an open notebook. And her grey eyes proceeded to widen when they got close enough for her to distinguish those sounds as _words_.

" - kill you," the thing - _person_ gurgled thickly, "gonna fuckin' kill you...shitty jōnin!"

She felt actual fear as she looked into the slitted black eyes, pitch and glittering with menace. It was a boy...covered head to toe in filth. The poor thing looked like he had been through a gutter.

"I'd like to get these two checked out, urgently if you please," the jōnin said amicably. His one visible eye was crinkled in an unmistakable smile, as if he weren't lugging about two half-dead children. As if he were having a ball.

And Kakashi was in a good mood. They would have to scrap today's mission; none of his students were in any condition to accomplish any services. He wouldn't have to frazzle himself by attempting to get them to cooperate more. Even better, the lady behind the front desk was quite the knockout, he noted with glee. He tried not to make his appraising glances too obvious, suppressed a bawdy giggle.

_Keep cool, Kakashi. Play your cards right and you just might get lucky tonight._

"Oi, don't waste your time trying to get some, cum-stain ninja. You won't be hitting _any _skins when I'm done with you!" Sasuke hissed venemously.

Oh dear, where had Sasuke picked _that _up? He had to silence this little cock-blocker, and sharpish.

"Hush, boy." the jōnin said pleasantly.

And depressed his thumb deep into the hollow at the base of Sasuke's skull.

"That should calm you down some," he murmured as the boy's eyelids drooped, his body grew limp.

He watched Sasuke collapse onto his side, the beginnings of a scummy puddle forming around him on the floor. His clothes were ruined; sopping wet and clumped with mud. The shorts had stained with plotches of bile green and oily brown that would probably never wash out. And Sasuke's hair was matted and discoloured with pond scum; he was a complete train-wreck. And Kakashi almost felt guilty. Almost.

For he hadn't gotten laid in the longest time - mostly due to the shivering, bone-creaking _exhaustion_ his troupe of wild genin-monkeys would reduce him to every single day.

Between a pesky, orange-clad ninja-on-crack; a stoic, yet oddly temperamental Uchiha; and a lovesick rosette with capricious mood-swings, getting through even a D-Ranking mission with his peace of mind intact was a challenge. And the constant squabbling those three would get into...

Sometimes he just wanted to get a hold of one of them (or all three at once, depending on the severity of his exasperation. It wouldn't be too much trouble, for they were small, his mind reasoned) and give them a good shake. And he had come close, once or twice. Oh, but his mellow image would forever be soiled if he did such a thing...and the ladies did love him for his suave, mild demeanour. Only the thought of never scoring again had stilled his hand.

Going three months without so much as a _sympathy handjob_ does strange things to a man's mind. Even to someone as laid-back as Kakashi. And the missions they had been receiving were about as exciting as a wet noodle. He had needed _some _outlet for his pent-up frustration. And the idea of tormenting the proud and proper Sasuke had been too tempting to pass up. But still...

Maybe he shouldn't have insisted on taking the scenic route to the hospital. Or dragged Sasuke through that field. And that gunky mud puddle. Wading through that shallow, algae-covered pond might have been a little excessive. Also, perhaps he should have made sure to give that massive dog turd in middle of the road a wide berth. The poor kid stunk to high heaven.

Blue Balls is indeed a deadly ailment, the copy-nin thought to himself.

He returned his attention to his lovely new conquest. With a knitting of his brows and a narrowing of his eyes, he unleashed the intense expression he _knew_ drove the females wild.

"I have reason to believe that this may have been the result of a drugging," he said in dulcet, orgasmic tones. And his fingers dipped into a pocket on the chest of his flak jacket, deftly plucking out a narrow, pale purple bottle.

The receptionist's eyes narrowed at the sight of it.

"I'll call a specialist right away," she said in a serious tone, firing up her intercom.

.

Naruto feverishly paced back and forth by his bed, his brain bubbling and boiling over with disturbing thoughts.

What the fuck was wrong with Sasuke? Well, more wrong than was usual with him. Naruto just didn't get it. One minute he seems as if he barely tolerates his existence and the next he's acting like they're _soulmates_,or something equally nauseating.

He had been fretting all day, even now that the sun had set long ago. He hadn't eaten all day either; he was too jumpy to feel hungry.

_It just didn't add up_, nomatter how hard he racked his brains. There were no signs, not a shred of anything that suggested that the Uchiha loved him before this morning. _Loved him_. The thought made Naruto's skin crawl. And his body still stung from Sasuke's brazen touches. He could still feel the impression of the raven's flirty fingers on him. They danced with infuriating deliberateness across his skin.

Even a long, hot soak in the bath could not wash it away. Instead, the water had felt like a multitude of pale hands that pressed and moved and _demanded _against his flesh.

"What do I do?" he whispered to the moonlit darkness.

He didn't know. He was so unsure. How could he ever face his teammates - _any _of them, again? Sakura-chan would probably hate him. Kakashi-sensei...he had seen it too. What of the other rookies...? And Naruto's face glowed in the dark with his blush, like a beacon of shame. Naruto hung his head, hiding his burning face from no one but the people in his head. He'd never live this down if the word spread...

Suddenly a puff of smoke billowed out in front of his nose with a loud _powf! _More bewildered than ever, he stumbled back and shook his head. A dark figure had appeared from the smoke, and it silently moved towards him.

In Naruto's addled mind; only one thought popped up. It was a ghost. He was _terrified _of ghosts.

"AAAAIIIIIIIII!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. What would he do? You couldn't fight a spirit, as far as he knew. The figure clapped its hands over its ears and spoke:

"Not so loud, Naruto," in an irritated voice, barking at him. A _familiar _voice.

Naruto took a closer look at the intruder. And his face blanched. It wasn't a ghost, a ghoul, nor a barghest - no, it was _far worse_. He was staring into deep coal pit eyes, wherein burned the fires and furies of hell.

"HIIIIIIIIHH!" the blond squealed like some sort of crosbreed ninja-pig.

"Calm down," and _his _arms went around him, pulling Naruto close to _his _breast, and he could _feel _the other's wildly pumping heart throbbing erratically within, against his own chest.

"RAAAAPE!" Naruto wasn't listening; he was apoplectic with panic. Uchiha Sasuke; the _last _person he wanted near him; _was in his room_.

"Shhhh. Relax. It's only me, baby," Sasuke crooned, and his breath whispered over Naruto's nose.

"You think I'm stupid? Of course I know it's you, asshole; that's the flipping problem!" and the Uchiha looked stricken, but frankly, Naruto didn't give a fuck.

Because the bastard was too close - _far _too close. He might try to _kiss _him again. No way, not again, _please _not again. If he did it again, Naruto would scream; he would go crazy; he would _lose it_.

"Naruto, I - " Sasuke had his lips only centimetres away from the blond. It was a mistake which earned him his third knuckle sandwich of the day.

Even Buddha would get mad if you hit him three times; goddammit.

.

_Jajaja, Lady-Killer Kakashi XD. I don't care if he's OOC, this is too fun to write! But I'll try my best to keep him more IC from now on. Will he succeed with miss receptionist or will he strike out? Who cares! You're far too interested in another amorous ninja's sexual exploits to give two shits about him aren't you? Now be honest..._

_Peace._


	4. Chapter 4

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

Warnings are in place for slash (male on male coupling) and utter silliness.

-Xtase

_Yesss! This story has finally hit 50 reviews; to all the lovely readers who took the time to do so, you are awesome! A thousand times, thank you; it really gives me the motivation and drive to push forward with this fic and pour my best into it. Needless to say you've made this writer very happy X3._

_Now I've received some comments about Sasuke referring to Naruto as "baby" seeming creepy. Let it be known that this was __**completely intentional**__. Yes, I did it on purpose; so you __**feel **__just how disturbing his character change is. And, I'm pleased to say; my ploy has achieved its purpose. :D_

_Enjoy chapter four!_

"Why do you keep doing that?" Sasuke hissed venemously, "I'm not that freaking Kakashi plushie you like to beat up at night. What the fuck is wrong with me that makes you think I'm your punching bag?"

"That's what _I'd _like to know, teme! What the fuck _is _wrong with you?" the blond screeched in reply.

He eyed the battered Uchiha getting up from the floor warily, body tense and ready to arrange him a new face if he so much as raised a _finger_ towards him. Wait...what did the bastard just say?

_Kakashi plushie..._

Naruto went from white to crimson, in a startled heartbeat.

"H-how did you know about that?" he sputtered, staring at the brunet boy in indignant shock.

If Sasuke knew...then he must be a stalker as well. He's followed him home and watched him practise sparring on his bed with the stuffed doll hanging from the ceiling. In his pyjamas! Mortified, he clapped his hands over his burning cheeks.

The blond began to pant and flush even harder in his humiliation. He was so distressed that he didn't even notice the Uchiha quickly sidle up to him. And in a flash, he had pounced upon him, pushing Naruto onto the bed. Where he began to wriggle and thrash with wild abandon, trying to _buck the bastard __**off**_.

And Sasuke would have loved to press his mouth against the smooth flesh of Naruto's neck, nibble and suck and taste the skin, and his knees shook with his need to do so; but his mind warned him of what might happen if he gave in to his impulses.

"Naruto, calm down!" but the blond wouldn't listen; he just struggled even more.

So the Uchiha proceeded to wrestle with him; until his bare white arms glistened with sweat and he had to heave for his breath. But after several minutes of tussling it became clear that he would never force him into submission at this rate. Naruto simply had too much stamina; and Sasuke was still groggy from his ordeal earlier that day. He was only wearing his own body down.

Sasuke instead focussed on stripping the blond of his jacket; skinning it off his arms up to the elbows. And with a mighty push, he flipped Naruto to lie on his belly; quickly wrapping the jacket about his arms; binding his wrists in a hard, tight knot. There: he was somewhat immbolised for the moment. That would give the Uchiha the opportunity to talk with him.

But Naruto was being far from cooperative; kicking and hollering up a storm. He could probably be heard miles away. Sasuke felt his lips crook into a smirk; _he _was the reason the blond was making all this fuss. What an...arousing thought. And now that he thought about it; what an alluring blond. Those tight, sinewy muscles rippling in his back; the weird glow of golden hair in silver moonlight; it ignited a thrummung warmth within his loins. It was turning him _on._

For the first time since the night had lost it all, he was inciting attention that he actually _wanted_. For once someone had seen him, _the real him_, and did not try to cover it up and hide behind preconceptions. Naruto knew full well what Sasuke wanted from him. And he _did not deny _the fact. The fact that he was struggling so valiantly was proof enough. And Sasuke didn't blame him; for after he finished explaining himself to Naruto...well. He would have to set about _coaxing _the blond into his arms. And how belligerently he would pursue him depended on how strong his love's resistance was. Thus, Sasuke's thoughts began to excite him in an unholy manner.

And thus for the first time in his _life_; Sasuke felt the desires of the flesh. His inexperience only magnified the intensity of these new sensations...So as Naruto continued to thrash wildly, his bucking butt sent jarring shock waves through Sasuke's body. Brilliant stars and shrapnel danced in front of the raven's eyes. This usuratonkachi's gyrations were only fueling his hard-on. He let out a strangled command that sounded more like a desperate moan.

"Stop that," he came here to speak to Naruto, _not _bone him into oblivion. But this usuratonkachi seemed either to be hell bent on arousing him further and getting fucked...or too _dense _to realise that stimulation only feeds an erection.

"No, _you _stop!"

"You're making it worse," the Uchiha ground out through gritted teeth.

He tried to pin the blond down to keep him from moving; and while it didn't fully work, it was less jarring than having him buck up into him unrestrained. But _just_ as Sasuke thought he was getting himself under control, he happened to look down. And saw his hands biting into Naruto's thighs. It was to prove his undoing.

"Getting - harder...shit," his eyes squeezed shut as a volcanic plume of _pure_ _pleasure_ flooded his veins.

_Dear GOD._

"Wha - ?" then his blue eyes widened in shock as he finally felt _it_. Something prodding his bum. Something very stiff...and alive.

Slowly, on creaky hot neck-springs, he turned his head to...check out his position. Through the gloom he could make out strands of black hair hanging limp over Sasuke's forehead. The hands gripping his knotted jacket; glowing like pale spiders in the moonlight. And right between his cheeks; a very frightening _bulge _in the Uchiha's shorts. The zipper looked like it was about to bust open. That wasn't right - underneath that zipper was...

And the blond's breath whistled in his throat before he proceeded to scream bloody murder.

"GYAAAAAAAAH!" Sasuke let out some sort of long, lowing _sound_ of pleasure that was lost in his partner's screams.

He could feel his delicate eardrums ache and pound inside his head; but he must be a masochist because the pain felt so good. And he must be a sadist; because the sound of Naruto's shrieking - it _excited _him to no end.

He wasn't naive; he knew, what people did with each other, when they were in love - and wanted each other. He knew the act that a man and woman would perform. And he knew, that it must feel good. The best sort of pleasure anyone's body could feel. This was - that legendary feeling; for sure. It was no different for them. Yet he and Naruto weren't a normal couple; and they would not easily manage the full thing. But Sasuke had some ideas...

Naruto's _gorgeous _blue eyes blinked in surprise as he suddenly found himself on his back with the Uchiha straddling him. And quick as a flash; he felt a waft of cool air on his crotch. Was then unable to even process what was happening; because of the massive jounce of _sensation_ flooding his body as scorching Uchiha fingers began to stroke his member.

"No...what are you _doing_?" his eyes were electric blue slits, glaring at Sasuke, "Stop! that's nasty,"

"No - it's lovely. Don't you enjoy it?" Sasuke purred.

This bastard...the way he had said it; it was like it was odd for him not to enjoy it. Like he was _supposed _to like his molestation. He wasn't. This was disgusting and wrong, spooky, _unnatural_ even. He should hate this. And for the most part, he did. But somewhere, _some _part of him was _enjoying this_. Why? _Why_?

"Damn you - why are you doing this to me?" the blond panted, "...ts...nngh!" and his irises migrated inside his skull as he felt a firm _squeeze_ at the juncture between bulb and shaft. His head swam.

"Hmm?" he heard the raven husk softly to his ear, "Speak up, I can't hear a thing,"

"Wrong," the blond choked, "This...is wrong," his voice was shivering and hoarse. Bleeding.

"It's right, baby."

"Stop freaking calling me that! It gives me the heebie-jeebies when that shit comes out of your mouth." Naruto snarked. _God _he wanted to box this bastard's ears so badly they would ring for a _week_. He wanted to hurt Sasuke more; teach him a lesson.

But instead the blond tossed his head back and ripped at the sheets with clawed fingers. He was helpless in the face of such pleasure. And Sasuke knew this very well. In fact, this only served to please the raven more; aroused him incredibly. The blond's rebuking tone of voice; made Sasuke want to tear him down. His neglected hard-on pulsated in his pants...it was too much.

"Touch it," he whispered, impatiently undoing the knot binding Naruto's hands. Sasuke grabbed his wrist, began guiding his fingers lower, to the root of his passion.

"Huh?" the blond gasped.

"Touch mine too," Sasuke repeated, and pressed his groin closer. So the brown boy-hand made contact. From this mere slip of a warm palm-press, the Uchiha hissed low in ecstasy.

_Fuck __**yes**__!_

"What...no. No way!" he tried to snatch his hand away; Sasuke's erection, it burned against it. In more ways than one.

"Naruto," and he was being bored into with a big, beseeching black gaze. All Sasuke's desire; all his _maleness _concentrated right there. And the blond stilled, staring like a deer caught in the headlights. Shocked into inaction.

"I - "

"Please," the raven whispered with _fervour_, "please Naru. I'm desperate..." and he trailed his lips over Naruto's forehead; kissed his eyelids, the tip of his nose, both cheeks. And paused, hovering over his lips; hot breath steaming skin. Tingling. Eyes open and bold. Sasuke spoke once more:

"I'll make you feel good too. So...please," he was pleading.

The proud Uchiha bastard; asking nicely for something. Asking Naruto, of all the people in the world. Somehow, something about his plea pained the blond's heart. And without further thought, for it was far to dangerous to think about what exactly was causing him do this; his hand began to stroke. Slow.

_What am I doing?_

But before that hard-wired warning could penetrate his shell-shocked mind; could _sink into _his conciousness, he heard _it_. His name.

"Naruto,"

Floating into his brain. His name spoken, with need. Actual _affection._ For once in his crushing, lonely life. Someone wanted him near...

"Naruto..." Sasuke called out, burying his face in that fragrant mop of yellow hair. The Uchiha felt his love shudder as he made his soft cries of arousal, right against his ear. It felt...so _incredible_, those light, fluttery fingers rubbing over his bulge. And oh yes, the blond's fingers were starting to work at his zipper. He could hear the long, drawn-out clicking of the unfastening teeth. Never had there been a sweeter sound...

_Oh, I'll fuck him. I swear I'll end up fucking you._

"I love you, Naruto." Sasuke, was nearly sobbing in pleasure; he could feel the tears forming deep within his head. And he didn't even care if they spilled out and Naruto saw, because he loved him, "Truly...love you," he murmured, pressed his lips tenderly against Naruto's; so red- moist and _hot_.

It melted his bones; to feel the blond move against him, respond by moving his _lips_; blew his mind. Softly, their tongues pushed and met, then they slicked, _slicked,_ began to _gyrate _with such heat. They gasped into each other's mouths while they rolled over and _over _on the bed, rocked the springs in an erotic melody.

This, was bliss.

Bliss, was Naruto; his bare fingers, trailing along Sasuke's erection. The raven...he wanted to do it; do _it_ with Naruto. He wanted to go all the way, with Naruto, tonight. He knew they were both males; but he also knew a way - to get around this.

He withdrew from their deep kiss and observed the blond. Looked at his blue eyes all hard and dark with lust, his red ochre cheeks; stared with such hunger. The lips that had felt so smooth and perfect; the blond now swept their surface with his pink, pink tongue. And Naruto leered at him with savage passion. He looked...ready. For anything. Sasuke's breath caught painfully; his mind reeled, unbelieving of his luck. But he had to make sure, before they went any further. He had to ask:

"Do you want me?" he crooned; in the most seductive tone he could muster.

He lapped his tongue against Naruto's ear; hitting nerves; exciting flesh. And the blond groaned softly, as Sasuke fisted his dick inside his pants, faster...

Naruto's fingers continued to move as well; of their own accord; began violently squeezing and pumping at an alarming pace. Sasuke yelped in surprise at the intense assault on his member. In a delirium; he reached under the blond's tee shirt and found himself a nipple; began to tease it _hard_.

"Do you want me?" Sasuke hissed urgently. He needed release - soon. And he needed Naruto to be the one to give that release.

_Say the word, and I'm yours..._

"I..." he croaked in reply, then licked his dry lips and tried again, "I - "

"_You're _coming with me," a foreign voice spoke.

Both boys averted their eyes sharply towards the source; at the window. Where Kakashi had squatted himself casually on his haunches on the sill, raising his hand in a blithe wave. And...was that a _log_ in his other hand?

"Ja-ang," he said.

And Sasuke growled, glaring kunai at the uninvited jōnin. _Just_ when he had finally gotten Naruto to participate in some sexy time with him, _he _shows up! How _dare _Kakashi interrupt them in their love nest; and after pulling that stunt this morning as well. This man...was infuriating.

"I'm not going anywhere." Sasuke warned him in a poisonous tone "Piss off,"

But Kakashi only smiled pleasantly through his mask.

"Who said anything about _you _going anywhere?" and he set the hunk of wood down on the windowsill. In a flash his fingers weaved themselves into seal formations with practised skill.

And then Sasuke was no longer holding a warm, living boy in his arms. The smooth flesh had become hard, knobbly bark. Soft hair had transformed into a little tuft of leaves. The poor Uchiha found himself staring bewildered at Kakashi's log. Not Naruto. His Naruto...

Was clutched in the arms if their soon-to-be-assassinated sensei. His face so deeply rouged; the colour of red wine, all the way up to his ears. And his fabulous blue eyes shone wide in confusion; as Kakashi clamped his hand firmly over his mouth. Sasuke felt rage roil in his blood.

"You cock-block me; I can cock-block you," Kakashi sang. Whatever the _fuck _that meant.

And he dashed off towards the trees in a flurry of soft scent and dark blurs.

For a moment, Sasuke was dumbfounded. But only for a moment...

"KAKASHI!' Sasuke roared, speeding like a bullet towards the open window.

And he was greeted by the cackling of a certain shitty jōnin carrying off his squealing cargo into the deepness of the wicked night.

_Nyahaha! Phear the wrath of Lovesick!Sasuke. What will he do to Kakashi? Who knows! I still have to think it up..._


	5. Chapter 5

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

Warnings are in place for slash (male on male coupling) and utter silliness.

-Xtase

_Oh my god, please don't kill me for making this serious all of a sudden. But what's a love story without a little drama? The humour will have to be put on the back burner; at least until after the next chapter, but the funny hasn't died, so please don't get pissed off and leave! *sob*_

_And a little word before you read this; I am __**not**__ a Sakura-basher. I actually like her and am simply calling a spade a spade. Now time for more chaos! X3_

.

_Earlier that afternoon..._

Hatake Kakashi could have just knocked on the front door to gain access to the house; but then where was the fun in that? Even his great ninja skills would rust from disuse, he reasoned to himself. He didn't know exactly why he had come here, he only knew that he was curious and just a bit frustrated.

Both Sasuke and Sakura were unconcious at the moment, so he couldn't get any answers from them. And Naruto...well, forget about Naruto. So that meant that for the time being, the jōnin was stuck without any leads.

Except for searching their homes. He had found nothing amiss at Sasuke's place, and Sakura happened to live nearby, so he had decided to search her house before Naruto's. But it wasn't only simple logic that had drawn him here. The dismayed expression on the knocked-out rosette's face; that weird bottle he had found near her. He had a feeling that if anyone knew what was going on, it would more likely be _her_.

So he had snuck into Sakura's boudoir from the balcony. And now Kakashi was taking a look around the neat, pleasantly scented little room.

The walls were painted a warm, cosy yellow, with a matching light-coloured floorboards. To his immediate left was Sakura's narrow bed, with a potted plant hanging above it from a hook in the wall. The bed was nooked in by a large cupboard with numerous drawers.

Straight ahead was the bedroom door, and a little mannequin's torso dressed in what appeared to be a martial arts robe; shiny white and decorated with furious red flames, the words "Fighting Spirit" emblazoned vertically on the back. Kakashi chuckled at these words; Sakura certainly did seem to have it. Especially around Ino...

He stepped away from the sliding glass doors and advanced further into the room. Past Sakura's little dressing table and her full-length oval mirror. Green frame, like her eyes.

The copy nin's eyes were drawn to her large work station, tall with shelves and drawers. This was probably the place Sakura used the most. He scanned the various books on the shelves one by one for any hidden clues.

Coming up empty, he proceeded to the drawers beside the chair. The top drawer contained some blank scrolls and study texts, with ink and brushes tidily arranged in little cubbies. Nothing there.

He opened the second; it appeared to be full of sewing materials. Then Kakashi smiled wide and dug his hand inside, drawing out three little soft toys from among the pin cushions and cloth scraps. They were miniature versions of himself, Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi chuckled as he observed their long floppy limbs, the stuffed balls of their hands and feet. All lovingly stitched with perfectly straight seams.

They were amazingly detailed. She had even made little sandals and hitai-ate complete with leaf symbols for them. Mini Naruto and Sasuke had tiny shiny glass button eyes, bright blue and onyx respectively. His own doll-self had a funnily drooping eyelid covering his visible black eye. Kakashi raised his little forehead protector...and was bemused to see a red-button Sharingan eye winking up at him.

_This girl's quite the seamstress._

Still laughing quietly, he returned the dolls to their place. Last drawer now.

The copy nin opened it up...and couldn't believe his eyes. Shuriken ceased to fly, Jiraiya went monk, Bijū wept.

"Th-this is...!"

In the otherwise empty space lay a red book. Oh, but not just _any book_. The words printed over the front were proof of it:

_Haruno Sakura's Private Journal_

_DO NOT TOUCH!_

_Must touch! Must touch! Must TOUCH!_

The jōnin thought he had died and gone to troll heaven!

Immediately, he felt a _lovely_ blush rise up his cheeks as he gleefully eyed the little wine-coloured book. And the copy nin had to clamp a hand over his mask to stifle the giddy giggles erupting from his vocal cords. He would not want to alert Haruno-san downstairs of his presence; the blonde woman was infamous for her temper. Something she had passed on to Sakura.

Not to say that she couldn't be a splendid ninja because of it. The rosette may not be confident in combat, at least for now; but she was in posession of an exceedingly sharp, potentially deadly intellect. She could be an invaluable asset to the village someday, if only she learns...to curb her emotions.

But what was he doing thinking about such trivial things when he could be invading the girl's privacy?

Kakshi wiggled his fingers in mid-air as he eyed the book excitedly.

...All he had to do was flip the covers open and he would be reveling in the sweet, sweet entertainment her preteen scribbles would surely give him. She probably used pink ink...oh, and put little hearts instead of fullstops.

Kakashi nearly squealed in merriment as he hopped up and down excitedly. He placed his hand on the cover and moved to turn the pages so he could - hmm? The cover wouldn't budge?

But before his mind could fully register this strange development, a blinding flash of green light eveloped the room.

"What the -"

The copy nin squeezed his right eye shut and shielded his face with his left arm from the glare. Eventually the glow subsided enough so he could safely return his gaze to the drawer. The diary had changed its appearance; a big black mark branded on its front cover.

Ah...a chakra seal.

So Sakura wasn't like most girls who guarded their secrets with box-spring mattresses and flimsy oh-so-pickable locks. It was pretty clever of her. But she hadn't reckoned on her sensei breaking into her room and seeing it had she? That might keep out ordinary civilians who aren't trained to mould and manipulate chakra, but not Kakashi.

Judging by the inscription pattern, this was a locking seal, probably activated by his foreign chakra signature. But if he injected enough of his energy to overload the bonds, it would simply break apart.

Channeling his chakra to his fingertips, Kakashi placed his palm flat over the little red book. Sure enough, the seal began to glow; emitting eerie smoke-blue light rays. The markings began to unravel, then peel, crisping up and away from the red fabric to ash.

In a few ticks it was completely gone, leaving not a trace behind. He didn't care if Sakura would notice it had been destroyed. It was her fault for writing down her secrets _because _she didn't want people to read them (preteen girls are _so _contrary), plus he needed to get his kicks somehow...

He picked up the diary and flipped to the first page; just her name; Haruno Sakura, written neatly over the centre of the delicate lemon-yellow paper. Next.

As he browsed through, Kakashi had to stifle his mad giggling again. Because he had been right; she _did _write with pink ink. She didn't use hearts for fullstops, though. Instead she blotted them before and after Sasuke's name. And his name did appear quite a _lot_. Kakashi flipped through the pages...it was there; on _every single_ leaf of paper.

Her entries appeared to be less about her and more centred around _him_.

_"I wonder what kind of food he likes,"_

_"He looked at me __**three times **__today, shannaro!"_

_"Today; I'm definitely taking his first kiss."_

"Booooring," he whined.

The copy nin was a bit put out. He had wanted to see those juicy little humiliating tidbits that Sakura wanted nobody to know...not her endless swooning over Sasuke. You didn't need to read her diary to know _that_.

Kakashi pouted in disappointment behind his mask as he came up to the last entry:

一生 愛の人生よ!

(Isshōai no jinsei yo!)

" "A life with love throughout", eh?" Kakashi murmured with a hint of fondness in his voice.

The same inscription as on the little hand mirror on Sakura's dresser. The rosette must have a thing for that phrase.

Apart from that the page was blank...hold on, what was this?

A very faint, gray _blotting_; he almost had not caught it. Like watercolour paint. It looked innocent enough...but something about it gnawed at him - terribly.

All of a sudden the warmth of summer sunset was nothing but cold light. Looking at that cool little dirty-snow mark - made his forearms erupt in pebbly gooseflesh. As he was overcome with an intense foreboding.

_Something evil this way comes -_

What was it about this unobstrusive little mark that raised his hackles, the silver hairs at the nape of his neck?

For the first time in his life, Kakashi found himself hesitating. He had a feeling...he _did not _like the vibes this thing was giving off. And for a moment he considered - seriously considered slamming the book shut and hauling ninja ass out of that room as fast as his sandaled feet would carry him.

But, he had to find out...what this thing was. He had to try.

So he brushed his fingers over the paper, over the grey _thing_; and the tips were suddenly alive with tingling warmth. Almost immediately, the blot stained deeper, and _expanded _wider, before Kakashi removed his hand.

It wasn't a single blob, as he had first assumed...it was part of a _pattern_. A _familiar _one. The cogs in the jōnin's noggin worked furiously. There was no mistaking it. This was -

"A second seal?" he murmured thoughtfully.

This one must have also reacted to his chakra, and hadn't had the time to completely disappear when he had opened that page. And the residual energy from his fingers had excited it again, when he had touched it.

He placed his palm over the page and pumped out a little chakra again.

And then there it was. A vivid black circlet inscription illuminating the paper.

It appeared to be the pattern used for the Camouflage Version: Storage Seal. Kakashi's eyes shone inquisitively. What could Sakura have in her posession that warranted such security? There may be some blue-ribbon blackmail material hidden in here. Surely it wouldn't hurt to take a look...? It wouldn't be much trouble at all for him to break it with a simple overload of sheer chakra.

But all the same, Kakashi was a tad surprised that Sakura was able to perform even this basic fūinjutsu so well; it took chakra development and control very few genin her age were capable of pulling off successfully.

And the silver-haired man was simply astonished when he took a closer look. A Two Trigrams seal; comprising two indivudual Single Trigrams placed one on top of the other, effectively doubling the overall fūin's strength. These were to conceal and guard the third seal beneath; the actual storage stamp itself, as it would otherwise immediately release its contents at the slightest trace of life-force.

This was definitely not a genin-level ninjutsu; and even if a cadet somehow managed it, the markings would not be anywhere this clean-cut and solid in colour. Kakashi admired the intricate criss-cross on the cornsilk paper; almost perfectly symmetrical.

_What are you hiding?_

For the third time, he forced his chakra into the book.

"Nngh!" he grunted in surprise.

This thing was sucking out...much more power than he had thought. This Two Trigrams was apparently _much_ stronger than it appeared; it was draining him. Had Sakura _modified _it or something?

The black marks turned a violent acid green, they grew hot. The page turned white. All of a sudden the seal just _blew apart_ and _vapourised_ in the air.

Panting slightly, Kakashi raised his trembling hand. The fingers were red and looked fit to blister, and he could smell the cloth of his glove sizzling from the heat.

And that wasn't all. Destroying that fūin...had chewed up nearly _a_ _third_ of his chakra reserve! The air was _filled_ with the acrid smell of burnt up ninjutsu-fuel.

Sakura, Kakashi decided, could grow to become a very dangerous kunoichi. He knew that forehead of hers wasn't oversized for nothing; it had to be wide enough to accomodate that big brain. How else could she have figured out how to make a simple Two Trigrams seal that durable? It would have not only stopped a regular person in their tracks; they would have died from chakra depletion.

The jōnin was growing really worried now. What was Sakura trying so hard to keep inside that book? She probably knew...how dangerous it was herself. Or perhaps she didn't...not _truly_. As her sensei, he had to make sure this wasn't as serious as his crawling skin indicated it was.

_It's not too late to turn back, you still can..._

Walk away. He could just walk away. Forget this ever happened.

But he couldn't now could he? With his genin team's bizarre behaviour, that suspicious concoction in that purple bottle...the feeling of his gut lurching and his intuition screaming that whatever had caused all this was _in this book_; he couldn't simply _forget_. He had to be responsible for these kids. Whatever this was might endanger them, perhaps even the village itself.

So he _could not _turn a blind eye, walk away, and still claim he was a proud shinobi of Konoha. Like his father had been until his death. He had to carry out his duty; more urgently than ever; because this may be a threat to his comrades.

In trepidition, he tapped two fingers over the naked, unguarded storage mark.

With a gentle puff of smoke, out popped a little scroll, barely larger than a medicine pill bottle.

It looked quite old, and a bit funky to boot. Kakashi wrinkled his nose in distaste. This manky little rag was what he had wasted his chakra for? He could have put it to better use; like prolonging his boner while he bedded his lovely receptionist. But he had blown her off in favour of coming here to investigate because his _blasted _ninja senses would not stop pestering him. Oh well; at least she had thought he was cool for putting his duties first.

Professionalism: 1, Libido; 0.

But that was a story for another time; he had to figure out what was so valuable about this scroll. Carefully, he began to unravel the delicate paper. It was a dirty soiled brown, and the ink was smudged in some places, but he could make out the first words:

_Samsara Love Potion_

And it all fell into place. Sasuke's strange behaviour; Sakura passing out, the weird liquid in the bottle; it all made sense. Sasuke was suffering the effects of a "love" potion; one that actually worked apparently. Kakashi scanned the of ingredients; listed, oddly enough, in verse.

_._

_If voracious admiration is your wish_

_Five lupin stalks to the pot relinquish._

_Then you must chop two dozen and two_

_Primroses to hear "I cannot live without you,"_

_._

_Arum leaves four;_

_For scorching ardour_

_Red carnation flowers three;_

_So passionate shalt affection be._

.

_Freshly ground anemone; for love unfading,_

_Seven dried leaves of bay; for strength never waning_

_A lavender rose; doubly powerful without thorn_

_At first glance thou shalt enchant, at first sight shalt love be born._

_._

It sounded quite cheesy, but the symptoms were accurate. Kakashi snorted and shook his head; what had he been worried about? It was still a highly risky technique that needed to be kept secret; but this was just another form of ninjutsu, and no technique was perfect or irreversible. All he had to do was analyse the mechanics behind the concoction and figure out a way to cancel it.

So knitting his eyebrows in concentration, he began to peruse the descriptive notes after the ingredients. He finished reading once, with his brow clouded over. He read it a second time. It grew overcast. Thrice he scrutinized the document up to the last line: "Without love, no life shall there be,". And by then his face was _stormy_.

He thrust a shaking gloved hand through his wild metallic spikes, nearly yanking out half the hairs from their roots. His visible eye was wide and dilated in shock as he just stared and _stared_, still not _believing_ his eyes.

_Impossible._

The effects on the recipient's, no, the _victim's _body...were drastic. And complete. As far as he could figure, from what the scroll read; this technique was indeed reversible, technically, but it might as well have been the opposite. For undoing this technique would mean...he couldn't even consider it.

_Something like this...can't __**possibly **__exist._

But he had seen the effects with his very own eyes at the bridge. It had certainly not been a hallucination brought on by the noonday sun. Sasuke had exhibited _all _the behaviours this potion was supposed to stimulate. So that meant it was working the way it should, and judging by the intensity of his emotions; at full capacity as well. And if that was the case: This was worse; _far worse _than anything he had ever imagined.

"What have you _done_, Sakura?" he whispered in a kind of low horror.

What had Sakura been _thinking_? Did she not care of the consequences of her actions, as long as she got what she wanted? Had she truly been so caught up in her desires and fairytales that she had disregarded Sasuke's very well-being? If this potion did what this scroll decribed, then Sasuke was _doomed_.

_Sakura, what have you done to Sasuke?_

But the most mysterious question remained to be answered...how had she managed to get her hands on perhaps the most dangerous kinjutsu he had ever seen?

.

_I did a little homework on Sakura; she does have little dolls of her teammates in the manga, and the hand mirror inscribed with her favourite phrase. I also tried to get the layout of her bedroom as accurate as possible. I had to do a little research on jutsu and chakra, as well as sh__ōwa Japan for another fic of mine; thus, the delayed update._

_What exactly is it that makes the love potion so deadly? Find out next time!_


	6. Chapter 6

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

Warnings are in place for slash (male on male coupling), utter silliness and genin smut.

-Xtase

_Hello all._

_I'd like to appeal to any and all beta readers who are reading this to help me out by proof-reading and making suggestions on the progress of my stories. I tried searching for one, but none of the betas I contacted have even replied to me and it's been ages. I truly need a beta reader right now, so if any of you are interested, please, please, please don't hesitate to send me a PM. (c'mon...you'll get to every new chapter before anyone else ;D) Please help if you can, I beseech you!_

_Ahem._

_I now present chapter six..._

.

Sakura sat propped up on her pillows in the hospital ward. Wringing her slender hands in her lap.

She had been awake for some time now; about half an hour before sunset. No hospital staff had come to check up on her yet, though. And she was fine with that. She needed time to gather her thoughts, and steel herself for the impending confession she knew was to come. If any medics or nurses or anyone who wasn't part of Team Seven came in and started trying to ask questions...she would tell them nothing, even if it was Hokage-sama himself. She would tell her team first; no one else. That was her resolve.

Sakura sat there in the dark with only the ticking clock and whispering of her hands to keep her company. Trying her best to comfort herself. She savoured these last moments of peace, because she knew, with bone-deep certainty, that there would be no peace for her for a long while.

But doggedly, she sat still and tried the best she could to stay calm. So much effort did she put into this purpose that she hadn't even bothered to turn on the light when the sun finally set. She was only vaguely aware of its dying red dazzle because the window beside her bed cast long shadows on the floorboards.

She tried to tell herself it was going to turn out okay for them, that maybe there was a way. If they tried their best...they could make it through anything, like always. She told herself this even though there was no viable solution she could see.

...But if there was the slightest chance that she could provide some information that might help Sasuke, she would try her very hardest to remember it. Sakura was determined to be useful.

So she tried to focus on the facts instead of the feelings...and the images from this afternoon that had all but seared her eyeballs. Because it _hurt_, it made her want to _cry_. For so many reasons she wanted to hate herself for what she had done. She wished she could take it all back. Even if she knew such a thing was impossible.

She wished she had never found that crummy little thing.

She wished she hadn't been so weak.

A tiny wet hiccough escaped her lips. Why had it -

"...and here I thought you disliked Sasuke," a lilting voice, light and teasing floated inside the room. It wasn't too far off, maybe fifty metres away. And the owner of that voice was not alone...

"I do Kakashi-sensei! I totally _loathe_ Sasuke - with a passion!" came a familiar angry voice.

"Oh yes, you were certainly showing him your _passion _back there," that chuckle was undeniably Kakashi-sensei's.

"What the - I don't - that's not - " the other - Naruto, choked in indignation.

The rosette's heart leapt into her throat with a whistling heat. They were approaching fast. No; they were already here...what should she do...she didn't know what to do, how to receive them. Scurrying out of bed, Sakura flew across the room to flip the switch. Not knowing why she felt the need to do this; it would have been easier to hide her shame in the shadows...

_Fump._

And her hair seemed to float around her head like a guilty halo as she whipped her head round to the window.

There was Kakashi-sensei with Naruto tucked under his arm. The blond was...disheveled, to say the least. His clothes and hair were a complete rumpled mess. Sakura had the faintest inkling that her sensei had perhaps _kidnapped _Naruto or something. Not that he looked particularly perturbed that there was a flailing, irritated boy trying in vain to escape from him. He only looked towards her and raised his free hand in greeting.

"Yo, Sakura,"

"Huh?" Naruto looked puzzled, and looked around the room for whoever Kakashi was speaking to.

Then his eager blue orbs found her; standing in her bare feet with her hair tousled up and her dress half-zipped.

And he gaped at her; fishlike...until Kakashi suddenly decided to offload him on the hard floor.

_Fump!_

"What the hell, Kakashi-sensei?" the blond yelped from his sprawled position on the floor.

"You're heavy," the jōnin said simply, and hopped into the room, "So you finally woke up," Kakashi directed this statement towards Sakura, walking up to her, reaching out his hand.

And she trembled at its hot, comforting feel on her shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" he husked gently.

Sakura felt her knees wobble. She wanted to cry. She didn't know how to react to this...

Naruto had since gotten up and painfully made his way over to her. And now she was surrounded by warm bodies that made her brain fuzzy.

Naruto's arm twitched, as if wanting to touch her. But she knew he was too timid to do such a thing. He was probably afraid she would hit him. For the umpteenth time that evening Sakura cursed her selfish, immature behaviour in the past. Always mistreating the blond and thinking to herself that she'd never need him. But she needed him now. His words alone would not comfort her. She wished somebody would hug her.

But the lovable idiot was unaware of her inner turmoil; he thought her pained expression stemmed from a mere physical ailment. If only they were so lucky.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" he cried, his fingers groping empty air, "Does anything hurt?" and those blue orbs were so wide with concern that Sakura felt herself trembling in mortification. Briefly, she shook her head, replied "I'm fine," chewing her lip and staring at their three pairs of feet.

All to avoid that stifling kindness that he so carelessly gives. What was he doing worrying about her when he was hobbling from his fall?

Why did they care for her so much when she only ever thought of herself?

"Where's...Sasuke-kun?" she asked reedily. Of all three of her teammates, he deserved an explanation the most.

_FUMP!_

" - kashi," the voice was somewhat wheezy but its accent was unmistakable. And its tone dripped with menace.

And there, crouched Sasuke at the window with the gleam of slow, black rage in his eyes. Our hero was completely out of breath, covered with a multitude of long, nasty looking scratches, his hair even more unruly and messy than usual.

Sakura's breath caught, nearly strangled in her throat at the sight of him. Like this...nearly feral and nearly bereft of his composure, Sasuke had never seemed more alluring. And he was dressed simply; just sandals and shorts and a plain shirt with no sleeves; all in black so it brought out his piercing eyes and set off his fair skin and just made him look absolutely _gorgeous_.

The rosette's lips commeced their buzzing. What she would give for just one kiss...

_Stupid. Is a little smooch all my freedom is worth?_

"Haaa! You! Where the hell did you come from?" Naruto suddenly demanded. He looked pretty flustered in Sakura's opinion. His eyes widened and he took a step closer to her, as if fearing an attack from Sasuke.

Then again that shouldn't surprise her. He was, after all, "in love" with Naruto now.

Yet it seemed to be Kakashi he had set his sights on.

"I'm going to kill you. Definitely; I'll kill you," his voice was hoarse and maddeningly exciting. Sakura felt Naruto try to surpress a shiver beside her

"My, my, Sasuke, why ever would you want to do that?" Kakashi seemed unconcerned; in fact almost bored in the face of the Uchiha's fury.

"Because sick bastards like you, who sic their ninken pack on unarmed minors, deserve to go down," Sasuke growled, almost bearing his teeth like a rabid wolf, "And you had the _nerve_ to summon them while we were in mid-air. Do you know how it _feels _to have four hundred pounds of _mutt_ fall on top of you? I don't even _want_ to mention what I had to do to get them off my ass - oi, don't laugh you freaking sadist!"

Kakashi was giggling again; almost cackling in his intense amusement. The jōnin's only regret wasthat he hadn't looked back to see the results of his handiwork. Dizzying images of a pancake Sasuke began to fill his mind, and made him laugh like a madman.

Sakura could clearly hear the incensed Uchiha grinding his teeth; the vibrations resonated in her bones. She thought she would go mad from the mere sight of those wild red claw-marks adorning his bare, taut arms. And they shimmered with perspiration, and rippled as he slowly, hypnotically clenched and released his fists and it was all just so beautiful to her. Too stunning for her muddled mind to wrap itself around.

This whole situation was too much for her mind to take: Sasuke's entire form appeared to be made of marble; hard and dazzling. Naruto was openly trembling next to her; Kakashi was looking supremely smug.

It was driving her off the edge. Whipping the maelstrom of hot, roiling emotions within her into a frenzy.

"Please stop," she nearly sobbed. Only because it was dry.

Kakashi's chuckling quenched almost immediately as he cut his eyes over to her. And suddenly she knew, with dead certainty, _she knew_...that he knew, too. She didn't know whether to feel crushed, or outraged, or relieved. She just didn't know.

_What can I do?_

"Please," she implored, more loudly this time, so that Sasuke could hear her. And when he finally turned to face her, she nearly swooned from god-knew-what. She wobbled on her feet, was about to keel over, when Naruto caught her.

Oh, he smelled so _carnal_; like pure life. She wanted to nuzzle her nose into the bright hairline at the base if his skull. She wanted to escape.

Pretended she really was as she felt herself carried over to the bed. And laid down on the soft mattress; covered up with the sheets. Not seeing who it was because she had shut her eyes.

After a few seconds' pause; after making sure she could _feel _their warmth near her, radiating strength, she decided to get it over with.

"Naruto...Sasuke-kun," she bit her lip as she felt both of their gazes trained on her. Felt but not seen.

_Like love._

"There's something I need to tell you both,"

And she felt an unfamiliar hand touch hers. So tentatively that she knew it was Naruto's.

_How could I have ever said that I hated him?_

"Everything weird that's happened today is completely my fault." she tried to keep the tears behind her lids because she knew they were watching for them. She desperately wanted...to keep from appearing weak in front of them.

She couldn't. But she kept telling herself she could.

"What are you talking about, Sakura-chan? It can't be your fault that stupid Sasuke suddenly decided to go into heat like a flaming - "

"Oi, watch it," Sasuke said testily, nearer to her feet.

"Listen to me!" Sakura cried. Her hand suddenly twisted with Naruto's as she was siezed by that awful _shaking_ again. These little silles were going to ruin everything; _worse _than they already had, damnit.

Both boys looked up in surprise at their teammate, clenching her shivering fists and laying rigid under the sheets. She had never used such a sharp, vicious tone of voice on either of them before.

"None of this is Sasuke-kun's fault," Sakura continued. And for the most part that was true. Except for Sasuke-kun being so terribly handsome and cool and irresistable, because _that_ was totally his fault. "It's all because of that drink I gave Sasuke-kun this morning,"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at her before his forehead cleared in recollection. He vaguely remembered drinking something she had given him - how long ago that seemed...

Meanwhile, unseeing of all this, Sakura bolstered herself..._steeled _herself, not caring what twisted, toiling expression was showing on her face. She had to say it now, before she lost her nerve. Her jaw creaked as she tried her best to form the words clear and sharp.

"It was," c'mon, say it, _say it_. Deep breath; in, out:

She squeezed her eyes tight.

"It was...a love potion,"

_LOL, I couldn't resist saying that; to me Sasuke kinda is the hero of this fic. (and Kakashi of course is the magnificent troll ;3) Also, sorry for using the f word in here; but considering Naruto's feelings, he would say something as offensuve as possible in this situation._

_About what I said last time...I lied (sometimes I feel the need to be sadistic; sue me). Find out the secret of the love potion in chapter seven!_

_Peace! _


	7. Bonus Episode

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

.

Bonus Episode:

How Sasuke Escaped From The Hospital

.

Uchiha Sasuke regained conciousness at around three o'clock that afternoon. Then all hell broke loose...

"Let - me - out - of - here," Sasuke snarled from his perch on a tall wardrobe.

The room looked like a train had blasted through it. The boy had gone ballistic once the medics, after an hour of trying (failing) to calm him down, had opted to try strapping him to the bed. Said bed had ended up mangled and embedded into the far wall before too long. Is there _anything _chakra can't do?

"Sasuke-kun, please come down," one nurse pleaded.

"Only if I can leave," he insisted.

"We _can't_ let you leave," she wailed.

You could almost hear the Uchiha snap. From that moment on; he behaved as if he were posessed by some destructive force. His hands weaved signs in a furious blur.

"Katon: Gōkakyū!" and the flames spewed from his mouth with a roar.

In a flash the fireball plumed out and consumed the room, with such force the windows shattered in their frames. A moment later Sasuke bolted right through the gaping hole and was off in less time than it took to say "pyromaniac". He didn't heed the shouts and curses of the angry staff members left in his wake.

"AAAAIIIIIII!"

"Where'd he go?"

"What in the name of Buddha is wrong with that kid?!"

"Shut up and help me put this out!"

"Tell Kakashi his little arsonist should be put down,"

For his part, Sasuke didn't care that he could have killed some innocent people during his little (ahem!) blow-up. But they were medical nin; avoiding injury should be second nature to them anyway (or so his addled mind led him to believe). Besides, he had bigger matters to attend to. That is; finding Naruto before the medic nin (and Kakashi) found _him_.

Slowing down a little, Sasuke examined his own condition. They seemed to have sponged him down and washed his hair at the hospital. Probably while he was knocked out. For the most part he felt fine; if only a little stiff-jointed and scratched up. He could start looking for Naruto now.

But he felt uncomfortable in these drab hospital clothes. They reminded him too much of the last time he had ended up at that building, on a hot sunny day like this all those years ago...

Sasuke gritted his teeth.

He couldn't waste precious time thinking about_...that._ He needed to get to his place and change quick. Then he'd go looking for a certain blond usuratokachi. This time he would make certain that nothing came between them. Nothing.

.

_So I wake up this morning and check my email account, and I'm surprised to see that my inbox has been bombarded with dozens of messages from readers. Ergo, I'm in a good mood. Ergo, I decide to end the torture and write a new update for the thousands of users who read this fic...technically. _

_Yes, I am sadistic. See you in chapter seven!_


	8. Chapter 8

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

Warnings are in place for supreme wangsting.

-Xtase

_Apologies to Bag-o-Beans; I shall not be getting rid of Sakura; I'm not done with her, and I won't be for many chapters to come (kukuku). I sincerely hope this was worth the wait._

.

Kakashi's back creaked as he willed his body into a deep bow.

"There's no need, Kakashi-sensei,"

The copy-nin raised his gaze, up at an older male's solemn face. The worry-lines in his forehead were deep, jagged crags, his weathered skin deathly pale. Kakashi knew he didn't look much better himself.

He drew up to his full height, leveling with Haruno.

He took a somewhat shaky breath, and hesitated. He tried to keep his hands from twitching, wondering what he could possibly say to Sakura's father.

"Don't apologize," he said firmly. Wearily.

Kakashi couldn't meet his eyes anymore. The guilt within them was naked and gut-wrenching. They were eyes that had seen too many things. Rich with experience. Faded from the toll of self-reproach for past failings. The eyes of a veteran shinobi.

_"My dad always tells me stories about his life before I was born. Mostly his academy days and when he became a chūnin. And about the time he was Konoha's emissary to Uzushiogakure. I think he loved that time in his life more than any other." _

Haruno-san knew better than he the downfalls of this lifestyle. Yet the roset man was surely in far more pain than he. Sakura may be Kakashi's precious student, but she was Haruno-san's _daughter_.

The copy-nin could only lowered his face, knowing there was nothing he _could_ say.

Except to lance through the tension by stating the obvious.

"She's waiting for you,"

Through the door, the plaintive strains of Sakura's sobs were discernable. Her mother's soft voice was murmuring back. The clock loudly ticked away.

"Yes," he said finally.

And Haruno turned his shaming gaze away. He turned his back to Kakashi, and slowly moved to his daughter's door. Kakashi noticed the slump of his shoulders and the aged silver strands in his hair.

_"He still has the gifts from back then. And lots of scrolls. I even found one about some of the village's special fūinjutsu. He didn't even mind me looking at them and practising how to make them. He always encouraged me to learn. So making all those seals was easy for me..."_

Beneath his mask, he bit his lip, a tad bitterly. The older man was placing the blame on himself. He did not deserve that.

Not after all the services he had rendered to Konoha. Not after willingly giving up a career he loved to raise his family.

Yet if he was not to blame, was it right to hold Sakura completely culpable for this? Had she been wrong, or had she been misled?

As the door closed, Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. Coffee. He needed coffee. Laced with every sugar lump in the pot. Forget the diabetes, he needed the energy boost now.

Sakura had her parents, but someone had to stick around to look out for Sasuke...

.

Not too far away, the object of Sakura's affections lay fitfully resting in his own hospital room. He slid in and out of conciousness, erratically. In a teetering, unstable state.

Thanks to the tranquilizers, the roar of endorphins and hormones in his body had ebbed to a dull throb. He was hot, and he was confused, and his thoughts would not stop addling themselves, but things could have been worse.

The medics might not have been able to inocculate him in time. He might have actually suffered a complete mental breakdown.

Sasuke licked his dry lips and groaned from his fever. His sheets were damp and tangled in his limbs. It had all been too much. The strain, the lies, the manipulation - far too much. What Sakura had done to him...

_"It was all me, I cooked up that potion. You were supposed to drink it and fall in love with the first person you saw. But it was Naruto instead of me!"_

"Naruto," he whimpered.

Just the thought of those lamp-like blue eyes killed him. No, what ripped his heart out was the thought that he didn't really -

_" - love him. You don't love him. Not truly. It's the potion making you do it."_

Sakura had been crying. Sasuke saw her emerald eyes shedding diamonds in like the sight was seared across his eyeballs.

_"I love you so much, Sasuke-kun! All I want is you, I only want to be with you! I didn't care if it wasn't true love if it meant you'd want me for life... "_

Was it all his fault? Sasuke's feelings and desires were as acute as any one else's. Yet he had always acted as if he were emotionally unaware, when he truly wasn't. But that didn't give Sakura the right to decide to play god and force his hand this way.

But what had really been awful was how the sinister love potion worked.

_"The potion's supposed to alter the way your brain functions. It makes it release a constant surge of endorphins and hormones, and makes you feel desire and euphoria. In other words, it tricks your brain into making you "fall in love"."_

If this was a fake love, he didn't want to find out what the real thing was like. Without Naruto near him, he felt like he was dying. Is this how Sakura felt for him? Is this what had driven her to make an irreversable love potion specifically for him?

_"It's not gonna wear off. That stuff is made to renew itself over and over without limit. But it's like a virus. It needs a source of energy to do that. So that's why it doesn't just affect your brain. It targets the chakra pathways surrounding it as well."_

He'd nearly fainted when he heard what came out of her mouth next.

_"The enegy source is your chakra. That's what chakra basically is. And since your brain and chakra coils are so close together, your pathways should absorb the potion and become infected as well... So as long as you keep producing chakra, you're stuck this way... "_

Sasuke wanted to cry. He was so upset that Sakura was capable of knowingly, willingly making him nothing more than her slave, a tool meant to appease her desires. Just when he was beginning to trust again, he was betrayed utterly again. He had been lied to again. He had been made to "love" someone, and been told it was not real, _again_.

She was just like Itachi. She only wanted to use him, like Itachi. Like him, she had hurt him... so deeply. Why?

_"We c-can't reverse it. If we t-try to, you'll d-d-d-..."_

Bitter tears squeezed from Sasuke's tightly shut eyes. She'd already killed him. The boy he had been, the real Sasuke, was as good as gone.

.

Sakura flinched when those strong arms wrapped around her, hugging her. Still more tears pricked her eyes.

"Papa, I'm sorry... Papa... I'm sorry," Sakura sniffed.

Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. Her body shivered and tightened. Her father's soothing embrace both comforted her and made her feel worse.

She didn't deserve to have so many nice people in her life, who were good to her, when all she gave in return was disapointment and grief. She looked up into his mellowed, middle-aged face, feeling small, wanting to be even smaller.

She wanted to be a little girl again. The one he'd bounced on his knee and told wonderful stories of his travels to not too long ago.

She wanted to make him proud of her again.

She wished she had never taken advantage of his kindness to further her own twisted plans. She realized now, that what she had done was wrong.

If she were in Sasuke's place, she would have been horrified that anyone could do such a horrid thing. What had she been thinking, playing games with someone else's life like that, considering her feelings alone? Sakura had not thought the consequences through... and now they were all in trouble.

Sasuke... Sasuke had gone crazy. He'd started tearing at his hair and shaking so violently when she'd told him what would happen to him.

_Sasuke-kun... Sasuke-kun!_

Squeezing her father tighter, weeping harder, she remembered the way he'd collapsed to the floor, dry-heaving and hyperventilating. She remembered her heart breaking. Her soul aching. Berating herself for making him suffer.

Naruto - he'd not even been able to look at her. He'd pointedly turned his face away from her. Looking at Sasuke with a new sympathy in his eyes. And a wan curve to his lips.

"Naruto, I'm sorry... I'm sorry,

.

Once again, Naruto sat in his dark apartment. In the moonbeams floating to his bed. This time, Sasuke would not come to bother him. He wouldn't be here for a long time to come, thought made him a bit sad.

Thinking of what Sakura-chan had done made him even sadder. Naruto couldn't believe she could go that far. Despite the fact that this proved Sakura-chan cared for Sasuke far more than he; his heart couldn't help but go out to the Uchiha. Sasuke was a total ass, but he didn't deserve what had happened to him.

What was going to happen to him and Sakura-chan now? What was going to happen to his friends? Naruto didn't want anything bad to happen to his childhood crush Sakura.

And he certainly didn't want to see his secret inspiration suffer so hopelessly. Now that he knew that the raven had been unable to help himslef earlier, Naruto forgot all the transgressions Sasuke had made against him. He ached to find away to help Sasuke. More than anyone else, he wanted to help save him.

The blond clenched the sheet in his shivering fist, chest feeling tight. Naruto didn't want Sasuke to die...

.

_Damn, I'm off form. I hope it didn't completely suck ass. Tell me what you think below._

_Peace._


	9. Chapter 9

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to **NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. **and receive no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations.

.

Konoha holds a horde of secrets within her great curving walls; so numerous that many must be hidden in plain sight...

.

A clique of Uchiha Sasuke's admirers trickled into the hospital lobby, one by one, for the third time in as many hours. Their requests to visit him were gently declined by the lovely grey-eyed receptionist.

"I'm afraid he's already been discharged, he's been told to rest at home for a while under his sensei's supervision. I'm sure he'll be just fine,"

Her smile was soothing and pleasant. Not one sign of guilt did she show.

The girls immediately started chattering.

"Is he really? I'm so glad!"

"That's a relief. I never thought _he'd_ ever suffer from chakra loss, though,"

"But he got over it, right? Sasuke-kun is amazing, after all... "

The door swung shut as they stepped back into the smooth sunshine.

.

A girl with rosy hair quietly left the hospital with her parents. It was late afternoon, and the sky was lit ablaze with the sun's warm, bronze rays. Villagers passed the little family by with barely a second glance. Their shadows played across the ground. And Sakura kept her head bowed, slipping her hand into her father's. He squeezed it gently and pulled her close... ever so slightly.

Encouraged, she made one hesitant step towards home; then another; and after that, one more.

She kept walking. Her parents matched her pace patiently, until they reached their home.

At the foot of the stairs, they wordlessly parted ways.

Sakura went up to her little room, and made a brief stop at her work station, before sitting herself down on the neatly made bed. In her hands she held her mini-teammates. She stroked dolly-Naruto's fuzzy whiskered cheek. She poked mini-Kakashi in his fluff-stuffed tummy. She looked at little Sasuke-kun's bright button eyes. Her heart fluttered and her stomach sank.

She looked at him for a long time.

When Sakura's mother walked in at eight o'clock, she found the room unlit and quiet. The light from the doorway lit up her daughter's form, curled into a warm ball, clutching a trio of soft toys to her breast.

Carefully, she tucked Sakura under the covers; then pressed a tender kiss to her ample forehead.

And beyond the balcony, a lone creature crouched on its haunches in a tall tree. Its body was hidden by a dark cloth pelt. On its head sat a shiny white cat's face. The ANBU agent would keep watch through Sakura's little glass doorway all night.

To a select few, there was no doubt the cherry blossom of Konoha had a long and thorny path ahead of her.

.

"And how are we feeling today, Sasuke?"

The head nurse spoke kindly to him; in case it was one of the few occasions he was lucid enough to actually hear her.

Like a ragdoll, his head rolled round to face her. His eyes were still glazed over from the tranquilizers and chakra suppressants; but he was coming down now.

"Where's… Naruto… Matsuda?" he rasped. His voice was reedy and demanding.

Matsuda's belly tightened. How did that always manage to catch her by surprise? When Sasuke wasn't high off medication, without fail, he'd always ask for _him_. Every single day, she dreaded coming to this room; witnessing this feverish, bedridden boy slowly crumble before her very eyes. He looked so unhappy, so burned-out and desperate, as if he couldn't stand it.

She could not take much more either. She had to do something. Appeal for permission to assign Sasuke a psychiatrist; lessen his daily dosage; anything to make his situation better. As things were, things were going nowhere for anyone involved in this case. This little charade was going well so far, but it was only a matter of time before the lid was blown off this entire affair.

At first Sasuke's condition had been so easy to misread it was frightening. His blood pressure was optimal; height to weight ratio normal; his temperature was relatively high, but could be conveniently passed off as a fever. Quite normal for patients with his supposed "affliction". That was, until the results of his blood tests came back; and it became evident that Uchiha Sasuke was a veritable hormone brewery – a volatile one at that.

Soon the Third Hokage had made his appearance in the hospital. And then came the big "cover up". Uchiha Sasuke was spirited away from the hospital and a replacement put in his bed. Two days after Hatake had first dragged his two students into the medical facility, the pseudo-Uchiha was released to his sensei's custody. No one resembling him had been spotted around the village since.

For a fortnight, Matsuda had been relieved from most of her duties at the hospital to monitor Sasuke's condition at the Hokage's residence. It had been her job to severely limit his chakra and pump him full of sedatives to keep the symptoms of Haruno Sakura's concoction from manifesting themselves too strongly.

A fortnight was too long. Matsuda needed to find a cure, at the very least a viable solution, and sharpish. Before long, people would ask questions about Sasuke's whereabouts; about why Team Seven no longer took missions. They may have to resort to using his replacement out in public for extended periods of time, something she wanted to avoid at all costs; the wrong person might suspect something about the doppelganger, and that would lead to trouble. Yet their current course of action was no less risky… what was she to do? She had never thought it would be this difficult to cancel a technique's effects –

"– Matsuda,"

The nurse came back out of her reverie. Sasuke had managed to prop himself up on his elbow. His skin was pasty, his hair was a bird's nest; and despite receiving nutrients intravenously, he was scrawny almost to the point of emaciation. The only lively thing about him was his smouldering, belligerent gaze. If he were able to summon the required chakra, his Sharingan would no doubt be glowering at her.

"_Matsuda_…" jerkily, he moved to get up, "_Where?_"

With a sinking stomach, Matsuda realized he reminded her of a mental patient.

"I think it's time for another injection."

His eyes grew to dinner plates. Matsuda gritted her teeth. For now, there was no other way. She needed more time.

.

The forest was peaceful. No one was eavesdropping. They could speak freely.

"How long has it been, Kabuto?"

"Approximately three weeks, Orochimaru-sama,"

The Sannin sighed into the breeze. At the rate things were going, there would be no need to plant himself or Kabuto in with the rest of this year's chūnin examinees. What a pity.

"Things have gotten a bit difficult, haven't they?" Kabuto's spectacles glinted in the moonlight.

"No," his golden eyes slid shut, "The invasion will proceed as planned,"

Incredulous, Kabuto raised an eyebrow at him. Orochimaru chuckled.

"We can afford to delay our first encounter for the time being. For now our priority is to plunge Konoha into chaos and gain the necessary political clout to assume power. And then…" a serpentine tongue lapped his lips, "Sasuke-kun will seek me out, without a doubt,"

Kabuto grew thoughtful, looking closely at Orochimaru.

"What will you do if he's accidentally killed during the invasion?"

The Sannin grinned hugely; tipping his face to the heavens, allowing the silver moon to reflect in his eyes.

"I assure you, Kabuto, the boy will not die. There is no safer place in the village for the Sharingan to be than where it is now…"

.

In the dark days following the assault, two things became painfully evident.

In light of Hiruzen's death, the village's defences were crippled, the Sharingan was vulnerable, and a frightening new ninjutsu was in grave danger of falling into the wrong hands.

And in lieu of the reluctant sage Jiraiya-sama, the only person able to aid the village remained at large in god-knew-which part of the world. They had to be found quickly.

.

Sakura flushed madly, she wrung her hands.

"Please train me, Godaime Hokage-sama!" she exclaimed, bowing deep as her body could muster.

Tsunade was surprised. She had heard about Haruno Sakura, and had honestly been expecting the girl to seek audience with her and plead for mercy with her punishment. Not this.

"And why on earth should I want to give a girl with a record of practising dangerous ninjutsu more ammunition in her arsenal?"

She was somewhat satisfied to see Sakura flinch, as if pained. This girl had some hope.

"I…" she swallowed quietly, "I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. I don't want to see any of my friends suffer anymore,"

The girl didn't even dare to look her in the eyes. Her face was humbly bowed, hidden by her glossy pink hair. Tsunade however did not budge. She did not need another apprentice as long as she had Shizune. She had resigned herself to one day preparing that brat Naruto to take over the reins of leadership from her, but dealing with another kid now was too much trouble.

"Look here, Sakura, I –"

"All this time I thought I'd be alright if I only had Sasuke-kun beside me, loving me, and I never once thought to look at myself and decide if I actually deserved him." Sakura interrupted her. The girl had actually interrupted her.

Tsunade looked at the girl with a little more interest. Slowly, she took a few trembling steps closer to her desk. When she stopped her shoulders were quaking.

"I did something terrible that day, I know that. I know I deserve all the suffering I've felt since then, but…" Sakura abruptly raised her head, her shocking jewel eyes boring into Tsunade, showing her glittering tears.

Haruno Sakura's voice took on a tone of disturbing conviction, as earnest and steady as the lass's knees were wobbly. And though her lip trembled, her expression was as determined as that of the Fourth's legacy.

"I'm not so rotten that I want to sit around feeling sorry for myself forever! All this time, all I've ever done is cry and rely on someone else to hold me up," Sakura began coming closer again, "I don't want to end up a loser who can't even help her friends. I want to be stronger. I want them to trust me to be able to…"

She stumbled slightly, nearly falling. Her tears were finally shedding. Tsunade leaned forward, resting her chin over her clasped hands; watching Sakura. Looking at Sakura look back at her and smile sadly.

"I'm happy Naruto brought you back," she whispered, "I'm happy you got Sasuke-kun off those awful drugs. He's so much better now, despite still…"

Averting her eyes, she paused again. And a moment later she dropped to her knees. Tsunade's eyes widened as she watched the rosette bow till her forehead pressed into the floor.

"Seeing you help everyone made me want to start doing good things for others too. I realized I want to be more like you, Godaime Hokage-sama,"

Her voice was falling apart, rapidly developing into naught but sobs.

"That's why I'm begging you… Godaime Hokage-sama. Please train me…"

Not even daring to call Tsunade by name, seeming so desperate and hopeful at once.

"_Please_,"

_Damn this girl_. Now Tsunade's face was flushing. She let the girl have herself a good cry, waiting for her sobs to ebb. Soon all that could be heard were soft sniffles and an odd hiccough or two.

"Good lord, what a hopeless child you are." A sighing Tsunade rose from her seat and circled round the desk, "Does slinging around long names make you feel more grown-up? Don't get ahead of yourself,"

She stood arms akimbo in front of her cried-out visitor. And she froze when Tsunade suddenly placed a hand atop her head.

"_Godaime Hokage-sama_ this, _Godaime Hokage-sama_ that; _Tsunade_-sama is good enough for a brat like you,"

She knelt in front of Sakura, seeing her fear, her stubbornness, her curiosity mingling in her expression. Ever so slightly, Tsunade smiled.

"That's enough bawling for now, wet weather's bad for my old bones. We'll see what we can do about you, Sakura,"

.

The setting sun felt hot on Naruto's bandage-swathed head. Impulsively, his fingers began to tug at them, pulling them out of his hair. Without a care, he threw them aside as he ran; knowing he no longer needed them anyway.

"Hah, finally!" the wind whipping through his cowlicks had never felt so sweet.

Naruto eagerly scratched at his scalp, and it felt delicious. He bounded from rooftop to rooftop, grinning like a fool. His forehead still felt tender from Kabuto's punch, but he had healed up sooner than expected thanks to Tsunade baa-chan. Now nothing would stop him from training with Ero-sennin and learning more ninjutsu. He'd get stronger; he wouldn't lose to the Akatsuki, and maybe one day he'd be able to win a spar with Sasuke –

The grin suddenly faded a little from Naruto's face. His pace slowed as dread began to stab in his chest. For one of the few occasions in his life, he felt hesitant. Should he go see Sasuke before he left with Ero-sennin tomorrow? If he simply disappeared – wouldn't that be better?

A hand came up to clutch his chest. Wouldn't Sasuke think that he was only bothering to see him because he was leaving? Biting his lip, the blond lowered his head to have a think. Naruto wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but he knew he wouldn't feel right if he didn't do this. And if Sasuke was hurt that he hadn't showed his face all this time, he'd feel even worse if he never spoke to him at all.

But if he went through with it, who knew how Sasuke would react – and behave. Would he be a bastard about it? Would he get pissed off? Would he go _crazy _and try to keep him from leaving? No matter what scenario played out in his mind, Naruto didn't see Sasuke taking it lying down. And then there was the question of Sasuke's _feelings _for him.

Naruto was prepared – as close to prepared as he could get for the possibility that Sasuke would jump him and try to do – _things_. A hot weight settled itself in Naruto's tummy as the memories resurfaced, unbidden. They had done… quite a lot in those few hours. Naruto had gone from never having been kissed to heated hand-jobs to nearly losing his own innocence in the space of twelve hours. With _Sasuke_.

Helpless to stop the rush, the blond felt his cheeks flamed again. It had actually felt _good _towards the end. He had liked doing that, hadn't he? With Sasuke…

"_God damnit!" _stupid, stupid, confusing Sasuke.

Before that day, Naruto hadn't been able to stand him, but now… he found himself caring about him. Wanting him not to hurt anymore. Despite himself, Naruto found his body was moving again. _Crap_.

He guessed it couldn't be helped. He had to go to Sasuke one more time. Sasuke… deserved it. Unfortunately.

A tad too soon for his taste, the blond touched down in front of Sasuke's front door. Again he hesitated. It was much harder to think about accomplishing this now that the beast lay in wait on the other side of a very breakable plank of wood. Naruto raised his hand to rap his knuckles against the door. But his arm froze mid-motion. Was he _really _about to brave a potentially wanton Sasuke? Did that closet lecher Uchiha jerk freak him out more than Orochimaru, Kabuto, and their huge-ass snake?

"What are you doing here?"

"YAAH!"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his peachy skin. That voice was near, that voice was right behind him, that voice belonged to…

"Sasu-ke…?"

The one and only, standing outside the door.

"W-why aren't you inside?" he choked out.

Wordlessly, the Uchiha showed him the shopping bag in his left hand. Naruto knew the universe hated him. How the hell was Naruto supposed to run away now? There was something about Sasuke that Naruto didn't like.

Certainly on the surface the guy was calm as ever, but his pout did not touch his eyes. No, his eyes were hellish and stormy, fixed solely on _him_; stripping him naked to the bone. The blond broke out in a cold sweat.

"Um – well – see the thing is… I came to tell you something and –"

"You've got something on your face," Sasuke's voice was soft.

Naruto was immediately thrown off his nervous speech.

"Huh? Where?"

"Here," Sasuke replied gently.

And he crushed Naruto's shoulder in a vicious grip.

Whip-quick, Sasuke shoved him against the front door, and he closed in till their bodies met. Till their lips met and he was kissing him; kissing him like never before, deep enough to make Naruto's feel like his bones were about to break. It felt like shrapnel going off against his mouth. It was almost painful.

Naruto gasped sharply. Sasuke groaned in reply. Oh it was still the same; stinging the blond's lips and making his body feel like dry tinder. Their kisses still felt utterly shocking.

Sasuke drew back. His tongue slowly snaked out. Naruto struggled not to shudder as he felt its wet heat trace his cheekbone. A pained look flitted across his face.

"Sasuke, stop it,"

"No." he moved in deeper to suck Naruto's earlobe.

"Sasuke, you have to listen to me. I –" a bony hand clamped over his mouth, fingers brutally digging into his cheeks. Naruto began to struggle.

"_Don't_ say it. Don't you dare say goodbye to me," Sasuke hissed into his ear.

The twinkling stars began to appear in the purple sky above, reflecting in a pair of widening blue eyes. Naruto stilled against Sasuke's body. It was so quiet he thought he could hear the Uchiha's heart beating. With his mouth still next to the blond's ear, Sasuke murmured weakly.

"Idiot, of course I know," he grew limp against Naruto as he said this.

And Naruto let him breathe against him. Let him draw his arms around him, and hold him with trembling hands.

"Stupid, clumsy, embarrassing usuratonkachi; _why_ did it have to be you? I really hated you,"

Sasuke was so warm and alive, so hurt it was hard to see him try to cope. Naruto's gut twisted. He could feel Sasuke's body shaking. He knew he was trying with all his might to hold himself back. And that was why… Naruto had to do his best to hold it in, and not hug Sasuke back to comfort him.

"Can you tell it's gotten stronger since then?" he gasped. It was less of a question and more of a demand.

"I know it's not real, but that doesn't make it any better. It still hurts when I'm not with you. It hurts when I remember you like Sakura. It's unbelievable," his voice sounded wet, his body shook harder, "If I don't love you, why does it feel like this? Why does it hurt … like that time?"

Naruto felt like he was choking. Sasuke, cold, unfeeling Sasuke, was spilling his guts to his natural enemy; comparing the pain of losing him to losing his loved ones. Weeping bitterly into Naruto's neck, leaving him to wonder at what kind of hell he must be going through on the inside, every single day.

Without preamble, Naruto squeezed Sasuke back with all his might. Crying loud, hot tears; answering Sasuke's silent sobs.

Through his tears Naruto managed to cough out what he really wanted to say.

"I'm going to say goodbye to Sakura-chan tomorrow, when I leave. I wanted you to be there with her when I'm walking out of that gate," he buried his face in soft black hair, wishing hopelessly for an impossible tomorrow, "But I sort of knew you wouldn't be able to stand doing that. That's why I'm here now,"

"If you forget about me, I'll kill you. I definitely won't forgive you," Sasuke said in a cracked voice.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, because Sasuke sounded serious. But he knew he couldn't die yet. He had to become Hokage, and master the Rasengan; he had to kick the Akatsuki's asses and use a Thousand Years of Death on Kakashi-sensei. He wanted to go on a date with Sakura-chan, _just once_ and make Sasuke acknowledge _he _was the best. And most of all, he wanted to be brave enough to walk up to Sasuke and say the things he wanted to, but couldn't tonight.

A strangled laugh filled the air. Yes, he couldn't die yet; so he would just have to make that promise. A promise of a lifetime.

"You're my friend. I won't ever forget you,"

An urgent sound escaped Sasuke, and Naruto was reminded of the way he had kissed him before – as if he would never get to again. A parting gift?

_So that's it. I'll just have to give you mine._

And when he did, Sasuke's head shot up, and his bloodshot eyes stared at him in surprise. Naruto bumped his fist against Sasuke's left cheek. Where his lips had just been.

"See you, Sasuke,"

.

_Finis_

.

_**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE BELOW; PLEASE READ**_

_After much thought, I've chosen to end __**Love**__**Potion**__ with this chapter; the main reason being that I want to write more passionate scenes and it's a bit funny for me to do so while the characters are still so young. Another reason is I'm not satisfied with the character development. The only one I feel I've actually paid attention to is Sakura. While she is an important supporting character, she is not a main one, and I apologise for neglecting to flesh out Naruto and Sasuke so much in this fic._

_In light of all this I've decided to write a sequel to this story, set after a time-skip of a few years, __**Love Potion Pt. II: Fallen Leaves**__. The first chapter is still under construction, and will be up some time this month. I'll be posting up a notification chapter on this story once the sequel has been published to inform all you followers about it._

_I feel a bit sad to end this fic; but the series isn't over, and I don't have to say goodbye to __**Love**__**Potion**__ just yet. A thousand thanks from the bottom of my heart to all the people who gave me support and advice during the course of this fic. Knowing that someone likes this story gives me the motivation to press on and try to improve every time. Until next time_

_Peace._


	10. Delayed Publication

_Dear Reader,_

_I did promise a sequel, and the sequel shall happen, but I am postponing its serial publication in favour of rewriting the original Love Potion. Though the plot of this re-write remains basically the same, the quality, sequence of some events and character development are not; if you don't read the re-write, that is fine, you won't be too confused, however you must know that I'm very much in the mind of basing the events of Part II on this new manuscript, and it would be in the reader's best interests to give this version a chance if they want to have a better experience._

_I deeply apologise for being all wishy-washy concerning this, and I hope you will bear with me, as I have quite a biton my plate at the moment._

_As always much loves,_

_Xtase_


End file.
